There appears to be no let up in the District 9-5A Catholic League pennant race between Brother Martin and Jesuit.

Although the New Orleans Metro area’s top ranked teams are not scheduled to play during this final week of the regular season, a first-place tie is not out of the question.

Top-ranked Brother Martin, 25-3, 7-1, and No. 2 Jesuit, 24-5, 6-2, each face district tests that could produce a tie and force a one-game playoff for the league crown.

The teams have split 1-0 and 4-3 decisions with Jesuit winning the first and Martin taking the most recent outing on Wednesday.

Here are the top pairings involving the Crusaders and Blue Jays that comprise the week’s top three large schools games:

Brother Martin vs. Holy Cross

Even a victory in this 6 p.m. Monday pairing at UNO does not assure Coach Mark Wisniewski’s club of a second straight district championship. But a loss to the Tigers would go a long way toward forcing a playoff against the Blue Jays.

First pitch is 7 p.m. Wednesday at Jesuit’s John Ryan Stadium. You can bet the Blue Jays feel like they owe the Eagles since it was a 7-2 loss at Shaw on April 8 that in effect has put Jesuit behind the eight ball.

It was Nini who pitched the complete-game victory against Jesuit, which plays host to St. Augustine at 4 p.m. on Monday.

Brother Martin vs. Rummel

First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.

Martin definitely closes with the two sterner tests in Holy Cross and Rummel.

But the Crusaders should have their top pitchers available with Corey Gaconi likely to face Holy Cross and Jarett Gongoria to draw Rummel.

Notes: Thursday’s District 8-5A meeting between Chalmette, 20-10, 8-2, and Grace King, 19-8, 10-0, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Bonnabel normally would merit mention among the top three games. But this contest is unlikely to have any championship implications given that King, is expected to have clinched the league championship in Tuesday’s 4 p.m. game at West Jefferson, 1-19, 0-9.

*************

Mike Strom can be reached at Mstrom@nola.comor 504.826.3405. Follow him at twitter.com/TheMikeStrom.